Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

A number of half-measures were included in the budget to help the SME sector, but they come nowhere near showing a vision to relieve the pressures felt by the sector and set out a model for its development. Every single target to make credit available to SMEs has been missed. They continue to be squeezed by State-owned banks which are being fattened for a rapid sale. If Ireland is to have a long-term balance and sustainability in its economy, it needs to have a vibrant and innovative SME sector.  This work has barely started. In addition, the Government's capital gains tax moves are too little, too late and in no way make us competitive in terms of what is happening to new companies and the CGT treatment they receive in the United Kingdom.

One of the striking things about current industrial and employment policy is how little it has changed.  The core strategies of the main agencies are largely those which were put in place a decade ago.  They target the same general activities and have evolved rather than reinvented supports.  Given just how much has changed in this period, this suggests we need more innovation in policy and less innovation in publicity. A long-term policy which has unequivocally worked for Ireland is the decision to invest heavily in advanced research.  When the last Fine Gael-Labour Party Government left office, the entire dedicated budget for basic research in the education sector was zero.

In the following decade this area was transformed. It dramatically improved the work of our universities and provided the foundation for the huge expansion in research activity in business. The budget documents talk solely about activities already in place, so we must assume that this Government’s policy of drift and damage to our research base is going to continue. In an unprecedented petition signed by 800 scientists earlier this year the Government was warned that some of the best scientists who have ever worked on this island are leaving because of a short-sighted and damaging set of policies implemented by the Government. The so-called new world class research centres are anything but new. Most of them were established 12 years ago and all are funded under a competition launched over five years ago.

Basic research, which is funded in every country that has a high standard of living, is being undermined. One research centre which is ranked first in the world in the critical area of immunology was refused funding because of this Government’s policy. Professor Bill Campbell is the first Irishman to win a Nobel Prize in a science area for 64 years. This Government’s policy means that his studies could not be funded in Ireland. Clearly, the Government decided that there were not enough votes to be bought in committing to long-term industrial and research policies, and our country will suffer as a result.

Before she became leader of the Labour Party, the Tánaiste went to great lengths to present herself as a radical alternative to Deputy Gilmore. However, beyond this rhetoric was the reality of a Minister implementing cuts which were almost designed to maximise the hurt which they caused. After this budget, 38 of the 40 major cuts implemented in social protection schemes will remain in place. There is a Fine Gael agenda for helping the highest earners, but none for those hit by the social protection cuts.

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